Yarn carrier for full-fashioned knitting machines



E. W. KAUL Oct. 25, 1955 YARN CARRIER FOR FULL-FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINES Filed June 21, 1954 INVENTOR. Emil William [Tau/l BYW ATTORNEY.

United States Patent YARN CARRIER FOR FULL-FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINES Emil William Kaul, Wyomissing, Pa., assignor to Textile Machine Works, Wyomissing, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 21, 1954, Serial No. 437,954

8 Claims. (Cl. 66-426) This invention relates to reciprocating yarn carriers for full-fashioned and other straight bar knitting machines and more particularly to such yarn carriers having safety features for preventing damage thereto and to other operating parts of the machines.

The present machines for knitting fashioned stocking or other blanks, are provided with a plurality of reciprocating yarn carrier rods each of which supports a yarn carrier having a guide tube through which yarn is delivered to the loop forming elements of the machine. The lower or delivery ends of the carriers are bent to bring them into substantially the same plane between the cap member of the sinker-head and the needles of the machine. The yarn carriers when idle are divided into groups located at opposite ends of a knitting section, the carriers overlying each other and normally operating in fixed paths or levels spaced from the sinker-head cap member. In the usual practice, certain of the carriers are designated main carriers and operate across the full width of the section. The remaining carriers are designated reinforcing carriers and normally only operate through short distances along the selvages of the blanks adjacent to sides of the section in which the carriers are idled.

The yarn carriers may be of the light weight type shown in U. S. Patent No. 2,656,693, granted to C. G. Newton, October 27, 1953. As shown in said patent, the carrier has a long unsupported upper portion, a short delivery end portion bent at an angle relative to the upper portion and a yarn guide tube which is replaceably carried in a turret member mounted in the delivery end portion. The turret member is mounted in a manner to permit the tube to be moved across the upper face of the end portion from a normal yarn feeding position when the tube encounters an obstruction during yarn feeding reciprocations. The tube is normally maintained in yarn feeding position by protuberances formed on the delivery end portion of the carrier and lying at opposite sides of and in contact with the tube. The protuberances also act to accurately center the tube between adjacent sinkers of the machine at the ends of each yarn feeding reciprocating movement of the carrier.

With this construction the tube and turret member extend above one face of the carrier and the body of the carrier has heretofore been made of very thin material in order to maintain the dimension through the carrier and turret member within the limits required for the carriers to pass each other in the operating levels. To strengthen the thin body material of the carrier to resist transverse and longitudinal bending strains, a central rib has been formed along substantially the full length of the upper portion of the carrier. However, it has been found that the rib is insufiicient to prevent excessive vibration at the delivery end of the carrier and consequent defective operation.

Itis therefore an object of the invention to provide a yarn carrier for a knitting machine which is light in weight and which is constructed to resist transverse and ICC longitudinal bending strains to thereby substantially eliminate vibration in the delivery end of the carrier but which will retain the required thinness of material in thatportion which carries the turret.

The space between the sinker-head cap and the needles is limited and the levels at which the carriers must oper ate are necessarily very close together. When a plurality of the carriers are in operation at the same time in adjacent carrier operating levels as in the ringless type of knitting or the like, it sometimes occurs that one or more of the carriers are accidently bent or otherwise displaced from normal level or levels of operation. Under these conditions the side edges of one displaced carrier strike the turret member of an adjacent carrier. In order to deflect such displaced carriers sufficiently to pass each other the turret member according to said patent was provided with camming surfaces extending from opposite sides of the turret to the top of the turret. However, it was found that the continuous impact of the sharp side edges of one carrier with the camming surfaces on the turret of the adjacent carrier finally would'deform the turret to such an extent that the tube carried thereby would not stay in yarn delivery position, and in some instances would cause damage to both sinkers and needles.

It is therefore another object of the invention to provide light weight yarn carriers of the rotatable turret type with means for preventing damage to the carriers when they accidentally engage carriers in adjacent operating levels.

Another object of the invention is to provide light weight yarn carriers for knitting machines having complementary camming means formed on the mounting for the guide tube and on the side edges of the carrier adjacent the mounting, whereby one of the camming means on one carrier cooperates with the other camming means on an adjacent carrier to deflect the carriers to pass each other when the carriers are not in their normal operating paths.

Withthese and other objects in view which will become apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings, the invention resides in the novel elements, features of construction and cooperation of parts, as hereinafter more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a cross sectional view taken transversely through the knitting head of a full-fashioned knitting machine and showing yarn carriers incorporating features according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view on a greatly enlarged scale of the lower end of the yarn carriers shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view of one of the yarn carriers taken in the direction of the arrow A in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 and shown enlarged relative to Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, in Fig. 1 there is shown a portion of the usual knitting elements included in a knitting section of a full-fashioned knitting machine, said elements comprising needles ltl, sinkers 11 and dividers 12, the sinkers and dividers being spaced alternately between the needles throughout the knitting section. The needles 19 are carried in a needle bar, a portion of which is shown at 15, and the sinkers 11 and dividers 12 are mounted for sliding movement in slots in a base member 16 and a cap member 17 forming part of the sinker-head structure of the machine. The base member 16 is secured to a center bed 20 forming a part of the machine frame. The needles 1t) are operated and the sinkers 11 and di viders 12 advanced and retracted between the needles in the conventional manner by operating parts of the machine (not shown) to form yarns 19 into loops. The

yarns 19 are fed to the knitting elements by yarn carriers 21 carried on plate members 22 which are secured to rods to 8, inclusive, mounted for reciprocating movement in brackets, one of which is shown at 26 as being secured to the center bed 20. The carriers 21 are held in adjusted position between top plate members 22 and lower plate members 23 by screws 24.

Each of the yarn carriers 21 is formed of relatively light weight sheet metal having an upper portion 27 and a lower or delivery end portion 28 bent at an angle to the upper portion to lie substantially parallel to the front face of the cap member 17 (Fig. l). The carrier 21 is basically of the type disclosed and claimed in the above identified Patent No. 2,656,693 but in accordance with the instant invention incorporates certain improvements later to be described. The known features of the carrier include a guide tube 30 mounted in a turret 31 carried in the lower end portion 28 of the carrier. The guide tube 30 is removably mounted in aligned apertures 33 in the turret 31 and is in contact with the upper face of the end portion 28. The turret 31 is rotatably mounted in an aperture 32 and is provided with an enlarged portion 35 which engages the upper face of the end portion. The portion 35 of the turret is connected by a bearing portion 38, interfitting the aperture 32, to a flange portion 36 which is seated in a. recess 37 in the underside of the end portion 28, as shown in Fig. 4. The enlarged portion 35 and flange portion 36 closely engage opposite faces of the end portion to maintain the turret in the desired position on the carrier 21 without restricting the rotative movement of the turret in the aperture 32.

As heretofore set forth the carrier 21 is formed of light weight sheet metal as shown in Fig. 1. In accordance with one feature of the instant invention and in order to resist undesirable longitudinal and transverse bending strains in the portion 27, which could result in distortion and vibration of the lower end portion 28, the upper portion 27, in addition to having a longitudinal extending reinforcing rib 42, is made of a heavier material thickness than heretofore while the relative thinness of the portion 28 is retained. In this way the total thickness of the carrier at the turret is not increased but the required reinforcement is retained. This difference in thickness between the two portions may suitably be accomplished by originally employing material of the thickness of portion 27 and reducing the thickness of the portion 28 by forging or in other ways.

Another problem presented by carriers of the type of said patent concerns the limited room in which they have to operate and the damage caused by contact between carriers moving in adjacent paths. Carriers 21 which are idly positioned in groups at opposite ends of each knittlng section, normally occupy fixed levels spaced from the cap member 17 of the sinker-head structure and in which they are reciprocated when active to feed yarn to the knitting elements of the machine. In the usual knitting operation certain of the carriers in adjacent levels may be operated alternately such as the carriers for the main yarns, and these and/or others of the carriers may be operated simultaneously with still other carriers such as those feeding reinforcing yarns. In those instances where carriers 21 are operated at the same time in a plurality of adjacent carrier levels, they are initially spaced apart sufficiently to pass one another without interference. Similarly, all of the carriers are initially positioned so that they will be out of contact with adjacent carriers when in idle position. However, if one of the carriers is accidentally bent or otherwise displaced from its normal operating level into the level of an adjacent carrier, the thin side edges, as heretofore employed, of the lower portion of one carrier engages the turret of the other carrier. In order to deflect the displaced carriers 21 sufficiently to pass each other or to be positioned in overlapping relation therewith at the ends of the yarn feeding strokes of the carriers, the turrets 31 have heretofore been provided with camming surfaces 55 extending, in the line of the travel of the carriers, from the portion 35 to an apex 56 of the turret, as shown in Fig. 4. However, although it has been found that the camming surface 55 on one carrier deflects an adjacent displaced carrier 21, the continuous impact between the thin relatively sharp edges of the one carrier and the turret of the other causes serious difliculties which include the cutting of the walls of the turret and/or its displacement or distortion resulting in defective operation of the carrier.

In accordance with the instant invention a smoother deflecting action is provided between the lower portion 23 of one carrier 21 and the turret 31 of an adjacent carrier when either or both of such carriers are displaced from normal operating level or levels. This is obtained by forming the lower portion 28 adjacent the turret with rolled or otherwise bent side edge flanges to form camming surfaces 64 as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The camming surfaces 60 preferably extend only along the portion of the side edges of the carriers adjacent the turrets 31 and are formed complementary to the camming surfaces 55 on the turrets whereby repeated accidental engagement between displaced carriers 21 will smoothly deflect the carriers during their reciprocating movements Without damage to the turrets.

It will be understood that the improvements specifically shown and described, by which the above described results are obtained, can be changed and modified in various ways without departing from the invention herein disclosed and hereinafter claimed.

What I claim is:

1. A yarn carrier for a straight knitting machine having an upper portion, a lower end portion bent at an angle relative to said upper portion, a yarn guide tube, a turret mounted for rotative movement in said lower end portion of said carrier, an opening in said turret in which said tube is replaceably carried in contact with one face of said lower portion and camming means formed on opposite sides edges of the lower end portion adjacent to said turret member.

2. A yarn carrier for a straight bar knitting machine having an upper portion, a lower end portion bent at an angle relative to said upper portion and having a cross sectional area of less thickness than said upper portion, a yarn guide tube, a turret member mounted for rotative movement in said lower end portion, an opening in said turret member in which said tube is replaceably carried in contact with one face of said lower end portion and camming means formed on opposite side edges of the lower end portion adjacent to said turret member.

3. A yarn carrier for a straight bar knitting machine, said carrier being adapted to be mounted with similar carriers moving in adjacent paths, said carrier comprising a lower end portion, a turret mounted for rotative movement in said lower end portion and shaped to provide opposed camming surfaces, a mounting for a yarn guide tube in said turret, and upwardly inclined camming surfaces on said lower end portion for cooperation with the camming surfaces on the turret of a carrier in an adjacent path.

4. A yarn carrier for a straight bar knitting machine, said carrier being adapted to be mounted with similar carriers moving in adjacent paths, said carrier comprising a lower end portion, a turret mounted for rotative movement in said lower end portion and shaped to provide opposed camming surfaces sloping upwardly toward the center of said turret, a mounting for a yarn guide tube in said turret, and upwardly inclined edge flanges on said lower end portion to provide camming surfaces for cooperation with the camming surfaces on the turret of a carrier in an adjacent path.

5. In a straight knitting machine having a plurality of yarn carriers which are reciprocated at levels to permit them to normally pass each other, each of said carriers having an upper portion, a lower end portion, a turret mounted for rotative movement in said lower end portion, a yarn guide tube replaceably carried in said turret in contact with an upper face of said lower end portion, camming surfaces on said turret, and camming surfaces formed at opposite sides edges of said lower end portion, said camming surfaces on the lower end portion of one carrier coacting with the camming surfaces on the turret of an adjacent carrier when said carriers are displaced from their normal levels of operation.

6. In a straight bar knitting machine having a plurality of yarn carriers which are reciprocated at levels to permit them to normally pass each other, each of said carriers having an upper portion, a lower end portion, a turret mounted for rotative movement in said lower end portion, a yarn guide tube replaceably carried in said turret in contact with an upper face of said lower end portion, camming surfaces on said turret extending in the directions of reciprocation of said carrier from opposite side edges of said turret, and camming surfaces formed along opposite side edges of said lower end portion adjacent said turret, said camming surfaces on said lower end portion of one carrier coacting with the camming surfaces on a turret of an adjacent carrier when said carriers are displaced from the normal levels of reciprocation of said carners.

7. In a straight knitting machine having a plurality of like yarn carriers reciprocating in levels to permit them to normally pass each other, each of said carriers having an upper portion, a lower end portion, a turret mounted for rotative movement in said lower end portion, a yarn guide tube, an opening in said turret in which said guide tube is replaceably carried in contact with one face of said lower end portion, camming surfaces on said turret, and means formed at opposite side edges of said lower end portion adjacent to said turret, said means formed in the side edges of one carrier coacting with the camming surfaces on the turret of an adjacent carrier to enable said carriers to pass each other without damage when said carriers are displaced from their normal levels of operation.

8. A yarn carrier for a straight knitting machine, said yarn carrier having an upper portion, a lower portion, a yarn guide tube, means for mounting said yarn guide tube for rotative movement above the upper surface of said lower portion, and camming means formed on opposite edges of said lower portion adjacent to said tube mounting means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,569,904 Schmidt Oct. 2, 1951 

